You Do What You Have To Do
by Laughter's Tears
Summary: One afternoon Casey and April's daughter asks him 'Daddy why do we have a hockey mask hanging above the mantle' So he tells her the story of the man he used to be and why he gave it up. A look at what kind of dad Casey would be. Oneshot.


This is just an idea that's been on the back burner for a while. I just had to write it down.

Hope you like it.

I don't own anything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. *sigh*

* * *

"Daddy?" Maddie called from the living room. "Yeah kiddo?" Casey replied from the bathroom where he was washing the grease off of his hands after another day of work at the garage. "Why do we have a hockey mask over the mantle?" He almost dropped the bar of soap. The question had caught him by surprise. He knew that his daughter, now eight, would ask someday. He just never expected it to be today. "Daddy?" she called again. "Just a second. Lemme get cleaned up and out of these work clothes first. You know how your Mom hates it when I track grease all over the place." He walked out, past his daughter, stopped to rub a smudge of dirt onto her nose just to hear her giggle, then went to change.

"Alright." He said five minutes later as he pulled her onto his lap "Mom and Uncle Donnie are working late again tonight. You know what that means." "Pizza, don't tell her!" Maddie cried out in delight. "That's my girl." Casey said with a laugh. "Daddy, are you gonna tell me now or what?" Definitely his daughter. "I was gettin' around to it. It's sort of a long story. You see, that hockey mask up there used to belong to me but I didn't use it on the ice."

"_You can't do this! The store's all we got!" Casey said. He was __this__ close to punching the greedy suit in the face. "I'm sorry Mr. Jones, but your mother just can't make the mortgage payments. There's nothing I can do. We have no choice but to foreclose. I'm sorry Mr. Jones. Mrs. Jones. Good day." "There ain't nothin' good about it you lousy leech!"_

_He'd sat on the fire escape that night. The same way he had the day his father had died. Things just gotten worse from there. They'd had to take out another mortgage on the store afterwords and had barely just paid off the loans they'd taken out to rebuild after the fire. _

_Ma said she'd be okay. She'd move to the farm. At least they owned it outright._

_This was all those stupid punk Purple Dragons faults! All their troubles had started after the fire. First the money, and then Dad, and now they were losing the store. He had to do something. Then he heard the scream. Casey looked down into the alley and saw a young waitress being cornered by six Purple Dragons. His fists clenched as he recognized one. Hun. One of the same punks who'd burned down the store. He looked back into his room and his gaze fell on the hockey mask he'd picked up at a pawn shop earlier in the week. He reached inside and grabbed it and the baseball bat that was lying next to the window on the pile of dirty shirts and socks. "Payback time." He said to himself. And scrambled down to dipense some justice._

"I was an angry young man. And I did things that I ain't proud of." Casey said as Maddie looked up at him in awe. "But you kicked some serious butt right?" "Watch your language young lady! And yeah. I suppose I did. But what do your uncles tell you?" "He who smelt it dealt it?" Casey looked at her sternly and tried to stifle a laugh. "The thing that your Mom wants them to always be telling you." "Oh. Fighting is wrong unless you're a ninja." Maddie recited. "That's right and don't you forget it." He said. "So you used to wear that hockey mask to beat up bad guys?" "That's right. I was wearing it the day I met your Uncle Raph. He almost kicked the tar out of me. Don't tell him I said that. I'd wear it and go with them on patrol sometimes. Sometimes I had to help get them out of messes. More than once they saved me. It was because of your uncles that I met your Mom." Maddie looked up at him with admiration "So you were a hero or something? Why'd you stop? You never go topside with the uncles, unless it's a pizza run." Casey thought back to the day he'd set aside his bat for good. "Actually, it's because I've got something better to do now." "Really? What? Are you a reserve member of the Justice Force like Uncle Mikey?" He laughed out loud. They all gave Mikey flak for that Turtle Titan getup. "No. Nothing like that!"

"_I'm what?" "You're going to be a Dad! Isn't it great?" "Great? It's spectacular! This is the second-best thing that's ever happened to me!" Casey exclaimed. "Second-best? What's the first?" April asked. "You." "You charmer." She leaned forward to kiss him and accidentally bumped his broken nose. He winced. "Sorry." "No. It's fine. I've had worse." It was true. He had. There had been much worse than the broken nose and arm that he was currently sporting. If the guys hadn't showed up when they had to back him up this would have probably been filed under 'worse'. He frowned. What if something had happened to him? He'd have left April alone and pregnant and… but he hadn't. It was no use to go borrowing trouble. Right now he'd just learned that he was going to be a father. He was going to take his wife and go see his friends and they'd all celebrate._

_Two months later Casey and Raph were out running the rooftops. "So, how's Ape doin'?" Raph asked. "She's okay. Gettin' a little queasy in the mornings, but she hasn't started barfin' yet. She's eatin' really weird stuff though. Yesterday she called Mike to ask what those toppings he had on his pizza last night were. Then she had 'em." Raph shivered. He'd seen what Mikey had put on that pizza. Then he glanced down at the street. "Break in at twelve o' clock. Wanna teach some Purple Dragons a lesson?" "What kind of question is that?" They made their way down to the electronics store and jumped in the broken window, weapons drawn, only to find themselves surrounded by at least twenty five gang-members, probably more. "Hello Casey Jones. Freak." Hun stepped forward and gave the signal for the Purple Dragons to attack. _

_It was one heck of a fight. He and Raph barely made it out alive. As it was they'd both be on bed-rest for at least a week. Maybe more if Don had anything to say about it. When he thought about how close that bullet had come to his face…_

"_I can't keep doin' this Raph." He said "Yeah I know. Broken bones are the worst." The turtle said, supporting him with his bleeding arm as they limped to a manhole. "No. I mean this. Bustin' heads, fightin' people. Goin' out on patrol with you guys. I can't keep doin' this anymore." "Whaddaya mean?" Raph said, bending down to lift the manhole cover. "Raph, I'm gonna be a dad. I got to think about my family. What if somethin' happened to me? I couldn't stand leavin' April alone to raise a kid." "Aw. You know they'd always have us. We'd take care of 'em." "I appreciate the sentiment, but a kid needs more of a father than four mutant turtles and a rat, no offense. I gotta be there. And I'll do what I gotta do to make sure I am." Raph was quiet for a while as they limped through the sewers. At last he just said. "Okay." And that was that. With the blessing of his best buddy Casey Jones hung up his hockey mask and baseball bat and hadn't touched them since._

Maddie looked from her Dad to the hockey mask hanging over the mantle. "Wow. You gave it up for me?" "Yup. I wanted to be the best Dad in the world for you and guess what?" Maddie looked back up at him "What?" "It worked." "You're so full of yourself Daddy!" she punched him on the arm. "Hey, I'm just statin' facts. Although I think Master Splinter might disagree. But let me tell you somethin' kiddo, there ain't nothin' I won't do to protect you and your Mommy. That's why I gave up fightin', to protect my two favorite girls in the whole wide world." He tousled her hair. "Daddy!" she protested. Then she got real quiet. "So what happened to Uncle Raph last month… that used to happen to you?" Casey winced. Raph had come stumbling through their window with a gunshot wound in his arm one Thursday night. They'd been lucky that Maddie was in the bath at the time and they'd had time to get it cleaned up some before she came out and saw her Uncle in so much pain. She'd refused to leave his side all night. Even though it wasn't a serious wound for any of them, it was the first time she'd been exposed to the more dangerous side of her 'uncles' lives. It was a side Casey was glad he didn't have in his own life anymore. "Only sometimes. Not much." He said quietly. Maddie leaned over and hugged him tight. "I'm glad you don't fight anymore Daddy, I don't want you to get hurt. Besides, how would the uncles be able to tell me fighting's wrong? You're not a ninja." Casey laughed out loud. Leave it to a kid to find the loophole in any situation.

"Say, why don't we skip the pizza and see what Uncle Mikey's cookin' tonight?" Maddie perked up. "Really? Dinner at the Lair? What about Mommy and Donny?" "If they come outta the lab they come outta the lab. 'Sides, I think they're at LH's today." "Can we take the bike?" Maddie looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. She'd been taking lessons from Mikey. He was sure of it. "Don't push your luck kiddo."

Mikey had made chili dogs for dinner, but he quickly added a can of green beans when Maddie and Casey arrived. April insisted on some nutritional value when he fed Maddie. After dinner Mikey, Raph, Leo, and Maddie settled down in front of the TV to play GuitarHero. Casey sat aside with Master Splinter, but Leo had promised him the next rotation.

"She sure does love it here." Casey commented as he watched Maddie steal Mikey's star power, much to the orange-masked turtle's dismay. "Indeed." Master Splinter agreed "And we all love having her. She breathes much life into our home." Casey watched her infectious laughter and smiled. "That's puttin' it lightly." He said quietly. Both fathers watched their children play for a while. "She asked about my hockey mask today." "Oh? What did you tell her?" "The truth. I told her about how I used to fight, about how it's because of it that I met you guys and April and I told her why I put it away. I told her that I'd do anything to protect her." Master Splinter nodded in approval. "You and I both have worked hard to protect and defend those we love from the cruelty of the world around them."

"Hey Case! You're up! I hope you haven't lost your game 'cause you're gonna need it if you wanna stand a chance against your kid." Raph said. "Come on Daddy, I can take you!" "Oh-ho-ho, we'll see about that!" Casey leapt over the couch and grabbed the guitar from Leo.

No one noticed Donny and April come back from LH's. Casey and Maddie were in the middle of a head-to-head father/daughter battle. "What's-" April started to say, but she was quickly shushed by Leo. "You'll ruin the moment." He whispered. They all watched as Maddie started to take the lead. "Oh no you don't!" Casey cried out. "Watch me!" She activated star power. "NO! Arrrgh!" The song ended with Maddie in the lead. "Oh yeah! You owe me ice cream! Who's good? I'm good!" She did a victory dance. "I taught her that." Mikey said proudly, wiping away a tear.

Maddie noticed her mother standing in the doorway of the Lair. "Mommy!" Maddie ran over to April. "We had chili dogs for dinner and Mikey made me eat green beans. Then we played Guitar Hero and I beat Daddy!" "I saw." April said. "Mommy, did you know that Daddy used to kick butt?" The Hamatos started laughing. April was trying hard to stifle her own laughter. "Yes. Watch your language. You should ask your uncles to tell you some stories about your Daddy sometime. I'm sure that they have loads of fun ones."

"Hey Leo," Mikey said "remember that joke about the _invisible ninjas_." "Oh yeah." Leo said, a grin on his face. "I think we still have audio of the TCRI break-in." Don said with a smirk.

Casey gulped. Why couldn't April have picked a nice painting?

* * *

This is 2003-verse by the way.

R&R. Constructive criticism always appreciated.


End file.
